Operation Dirty Dope

MAY 24 (WASHINGTON) – The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today identified the Ruelas Torres Drug Trafficking Organization (Ruelas Torres DTO) and its leader, Mexican national Jose Luis Ruelas Torres, as Significant Foreign Narcotics Traffickers pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act). The Ruelas Torres DTO is a family-based, independent opium and heroin production and distribution organization that smuggles multi-kilogram heroin quantities into the United States.

OFAC also designated 10 key Ruelas Torres DTO associates as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers pursuant to the Kingpin Act for their role in the organization. As a result of today’s action, all assets of those designated that are based in the United States or that are in the control of U.S. persons are frozen, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

“The joint efforts of the Drug Enforcement Administration and OFAC represent a sustained initiative to combat foreign drug trafficking organizations, or those acting on behalf of them, from doing business via the United States,” said Barbara Roach, DEA Special Agent-in-Charge of the Denver Field Division. “Such sanctions serve as one of the most important and multi-faceted avenues with which U.S. law enforcement can effectively and efficiently disrupt and dismantle major international drug trafficking organizations and anyone doing business with them.”

“Treasury is targeting Jose Luis Ruelas Torres as a Significant Foreign Narcotics Trafficker under the Kingpin Act because he and his drug trafficking organization are major contributors to our nation’s heroin epidemic,” said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin.“The Ruelas Torres Drug Trafficking Organization smuggles heroin from Mexico into the United States for distribution in cities from Los Angeles to New York City. This action will hinder its ability to move and use the illicit proceeds from this activity. Treasury and our partners in the DEA and the Mexican government are committed to exposing, disrupting, and dismantling these criminal networks.”

The Ruelas Torres DTO is composed of Jose Luis Ruelas Torres’s immediate and extended family members and has been involved in manufacturing, importing, and distributing heroin from Sinaloa, Mexico to the United States for well over two decades, as well as moving laundered drug proceeds from the United States to Mexico.Ruelas Torres and his criminal organization distribute heroin to various cities throughout the United States, including Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Columbus, Detroit, and New York City.The Ruelas Torres DTO is aligned with Mexican drug trafficker Fausto Isidro Meza Flores, a.k.a. “Chapito Isidro,” whom OFAC designated in January 2013. He and his associates are allegedlyinvolved in distributing large quantities of meth, heroin, marijuana and cocaine to the US since2000.Other reports indicate that he has worked with the Beltran Leyva Organization (which was allied with the Sinaloa Cartel, but broke away in the late 2000's) since the late 1990's and acted as a trafficker and enforcer on BLO's behalf in the state of Sinaloa.Meza Flores is also involved in the battle for succession that has wracked the powerful SinaloaCartel since Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera was arrested for the second time in 2016.

In 2015, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado charged Ruelas Torres and his son Joel Efren Ruelas Avila with running a Continuing Criminal Enterprise, along with related narcotics trafficking and money laundering offenses. The indictment also charged Hector Librado Rivera Sandoval, Toribio Alberto Lugo Leon, and Jose Carlos Barraza Aceves with multiple charges related to narcotics trafficking, and Maria de Jesus Espinoza Rodriguez with several drug and money laundering charges. All of these individuals are being identified or designated today. In addition, the OFAC action targets Gilberto Ruelas Torres, Sigi Alfredo Mondaca Avila, Jesus Angel Ruelas Avila, Jose Luis Ruelas Avila, and Leobardo Ruelas Avila for their activities related to the Ruelas Torres DTO.

Since June 2000, more than 2,000 individuals and entities have been named pursuant to the Kingpin Act for their role in international narcotics trafficking. Penalties for violations of the Kingpin Act range from civil penalties of up to $1,437,153 million per violation to more severe criminal penalties.Criminal penalties for corporate officers may include up to 30 years in prison and fines of up to $5 million. Criminal fines for corporations may reach $10 million. Other individuals could face up to 10 years in prison and fines pursuant to the Title 18 of the United States Code for criminal violations of the Kingpin Act.

27 comments:

Great to see the determination of hindering and freezing such accounts. Which will put an immense impact for operations.However more of such individuals are needed for apprehension. Those who are literally behind closed doors and are the financiers of the operations. Beautiful posting!

Great??? Its bullshit if you ask me! If their strategies and efforts are so efficient how come we are inundated with drugs??? Our cities, streets, schools and communities are overflowing with drugs and addicts (not to mention 'recreational' users)! This is after 30 years of WoD! Are you working for the DEA/CIA/FBI and think the multi-billion bidgets are great???

Good work borderlandbeat. Never heard about this cartel at all. Seems Mexico has more number of cartels than the educational institutions 😂 Nobody knows how many small and big cartels exists in Mexico which is performing under shadow. I don't know what the police are doing except getting bribes. Have the citizens tried to bring revolution there ?

You got to use your logic, cartels are another name for groups that band together from many different family clans.

What happens when the ceo of the cartel gets cought, some fight for the crown, others jump ships, and some go independent and form their own group/cartel.

The personel on each depends on the magnitude of the operation. It could be a small scale crew (most of the time they drug traffik mexico only), to a larger one (international operations).

Prime examples of small scale cartels/groups: la mano con ojos, la barredora, CIDA and all these examples were once part of BLO. Most of their money is on the local level.

Examples of large scale would be like CJNG, CDS, CDN, CDG. These have enterprises set up for drug transport, laundering, chemists labs among other stuff, oh and political contacts they assert control of states or regions in Mexico.

That is why theirs dozens of cartels in Mexico, just like gangs in the US, difference is many US gangs havent evolved from their hood mentality.

'Cartel' is what the government agencies label several small groups of cruminals which have banded together to pursue their business interest (mainly drugs but also other crimes). By labelling them 'cartels' the public perceive them as sophisticated Darth Vader entities which warrants multi-billion budgets to combat. Reality is that the cause of the small bands of criminals forming in the first place are poverty and corruption which can conveniently be overseen when we are faced with the 'cartels'.

What I know about Jose Luis Ruelas Torres is he used to run with Paco Cerda. They didn't split on bad terms, but I'm not completely sure they aren't still friends. Both operate around Guasave & Sinaloa, Sinaloa. Once Paco got in with the Colombians and then El Chapo & El Mayo, he went a different path.

Torres is an older man, 64-65. His #2 in charge is his son, Joel Efren Ruelas Avila. They are from Sinaloa, so you can see the connection to Paco Cerda. Paco is believed to be 52-55. And they say he still looks like a soldier. Very fit.

The old man has played it close to the vest. His sons and nephews are his operators and chief enforcers.

those thinking this is like a new cartel are retarted as hell, torres organization dont mean its a new cartel, remember cartels eslecially sinaloa are made of many organizations, like zambada dto guzman dto and others make the sinaloa, thisnone, the mesa flores make the Beltran Leyva, los cuinis, los oseguera make up cjng, its just that the givernmemt focuses on certain groups within a cartel

This opinion piece admits that the southern border of the US is beyond Mexico, and alleges that Mrs Clinton is pressuring a judicial configuration that would enable more crime. http://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/66193